The Perrigo Company Charitable Foundation started the Allegan City Council meeting Monday, Jan. 22, by announcing a gift of $260,000 to help fund the riverfront splash pad and new youth labs at Allegan District Library.
Each organization received a check for $130,000 to help build projects the community requested and are on the verge of coming to fruition.
Perrigo Foundation president Tom Farrington said in celebration of Perrigo’s 130th year in business last year, Allegan General Hospital opened the Perrigo Imaging Center after a $650,000 donation by the foundation.
This year, the foundation asked for ideas of where the company could invest in the community and city manager Joel Dye and library director Ryan Deery stepped forward with presentations.
“They thought they were in competition for one $130,000 donation but they did such an amazing job talking about the projects, we wanted to be a part of the vision and contributed the same amount for both,” Farrington said.
Dye said the donations will help with two exciting projects in close proximity that will complete a vision that started years ago for the riverfront to be a community gathering space.
“The riverfront splash pad will complete converting a parking lot into a park-like setting and the donation will allow the city to expand the project and focus—the boardwalk needs attention,” said Dye. “It’s not just for kids. At night time the LED color jets will provide great opportunities to really open it up to all generations.”
The city previously had $511,000 to complete the splash pad with a grand opening expected to be during the city’s July 3 Jubilee. The project also includes a community fireplace and an expanded and improved plaza and boardwalk area. If any funds were leftover, replacement of damaged boardwalk boards was to be completed.
The $6.5 million library expansion project is poised to begin any day now and expected completion will take about eight months.
Deery said like the riverfront project, the library improvement plan started years ago by reaching out to the community to see what they wanted.
“With the majority of who goes to the library—children, families and teens—the community vision was for a highly dynamic, engaging space with cutting edge technology,” Deery said. “We thank Perrigo for stepping up and taking a bold action—like the community that supported it.”
The donation will fund the Perrigo Learning Lab for children and the Perrigo STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, Math) Lab for teens.
“The labs will feature hands-on learning outcomes, rich in technology, and draws on the natural environment by bringing the riverfront into the environment,” Deery said.
Library board president Mike Kiella also thanked Perrigo for being socially active in the community for a very long time.
Perrigo was founded in 1887 as a packager of generic home remedies and has been in Allegan ever since, growing to become the world’s largest manufacturer of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and Allegan’s largest employer.
Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at (269) 673-5534.
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